History of medical social work in abroad

History of medical social work in abroad

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  HISTORY OF MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKIN ABROAD PRESENTED BY :- RAJNISH KUMAR (RESEARCH SCHOLOR, SOCIAL WORK, (MGKVP, VARANASI)
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  HISTORY OF MEDICALSOCIAL WORK IN EUROPEAN AND ASIAN COUNTRIES: • Early Christian Communities built houses called “Hospitial” for the reception of Travelers, abandoned children and sick people. The first Christian hospital was in Rome founded by Fabiola in the 4th Century A.D. when the Churches were authorized to established charitable institutions some of which were also opened to the sick. By the 8th Century several “hospices” (guest house), Lazar Houses (poor house), charitable orders and asylums were built and a group of pro-hospitals under various Church Orders (e.g. S.T. Mary, S.T.Bavthelmew, S.T. John, S.T. Anthony etc.) were established in Europe and England between the 11th and 14th Centuries. These hospitals had many defects and not until the 17th Century a clear distinction could made between institutions where treatment was provided and those where sheltered were given to the aged, the blind and the poor and not until the 18th Century that the Hospitals in Europe really began to treat acute cases seriously.
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  CONTINUED… • The secondand probably the most important contribution to hospital social work came through the organization of Almoners in England. In 19th Century Voluntary Association sometimes were raising funds for helping the helping patents in hospitals or even at their homes. In 1876, many London hospitals appointed Enquiry Officer’s (fore runner of Almoners) to enquire about the patient’s means, from the point of patient’s welfare. • In 1894, the New York Presbyterian Hospital appointed paid social workers to serve the babies ward. A recommendation from the House of Lords select Committee on abuse of hospitals in the metropolis, instigation of Sir Charles Loch (1892) led to the first almoner’s appointment in (1895).
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  CONTINUED ….. • TheHospital Almoners Association was formed in 1922 with 51 members, including those from outside London. The Royal Commission on lunacy and Mental Disorders (1926) advocated a similar system to that of almoners for mental health the genesis of psychiatric social work. • In 1938 Social Workers first began to include social summaries in Medical records. Beginning during World War 2 and growing thereafter were Weekly Conferences between Social Workers and Physicians and Nurses. Her speaking and writing for publication continued to strengthen the development of social work as a profession.
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  CONTINUED… • In orderto professionalize Medical Social Work she developed a specialized training programme in conjunction with the Boston School of social Work and her own department at Massachusetts General Hospital. This programs led to the training Cannon felt every Medical Social Worker should have a combination of Medical and Social Work expertise. She held a teaching position within the programme for the rest of her career and advised institutions and hospitals around the country on how to create their own Medical Social Work Departments and training Programmes. She helped to establish the American Association of Hospital Social Workers and served as President from 1920 to 1922. Cannon represented her profession as delegate to the White House conference on child Health and Protection in 1930 and 1931.
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  CONTINUED… • In 1945,the Institute of Almoners in Britain was formed, which, in 1964, was renamed as the Institute of Medical social worker . The Institute was one of the founder organizations of the British Association of Social Workers, which was formed in 1970. In Britain, medical social workers were transferred from the National Health Service (NHS) into local authority Social Services Departments in 1974, and generally became known as hospital social workers. • Medical social work was started in 1921 by Ida Pruitt in Beijing. In-service training was given to social workers for carrying out casework, adoption services and recuperation services. • In Ireland, the origins of medical social work go back to paediatrician Ella Webb, the first physician in Ireland to appoint almoners to work in her dispensary for sick children that she established in the Adelaide Hospital in Dublin, and to Winifred Alcock, the first almoner appointed by Webb in 1918.
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  SUMMARY • Social workersoffer a unique and valuable contribution in providing appropriate and targeted services to meet the complex psychosocial needs of patients, their family and careers in hospitals. Hospital social workers provide direct services aiming to minimize the impacts of illness and hospitalisation when a person’s health is impacted by complex social, psychological, family and institutional dynamics. Accordingly, the profession of social work has a clear role in the continuum of hospital services. It is now fully realized that the trained medical social worker, co-operating with the physician in attendance, is of Valuable assistance in diagnosis treatment and follow-up, not to say anything of the many advantages directly to the general welfare of the patients, and to the more efficient administration of the hospital rendering its fullest community service. The Social workers thus becomes an important link in the hospital system, particularly in rounding out the service rendered to the patient”.
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  REFERENCES • Ida M.Cannon, On the Social Frontier of Medicine, Harvard University, Cambridge, 1952,pp 1-8 • Francis Peabody, The Care of the Patient, Harvard University, Cambridge, 1928, pp.12 • Keefe RH. Health disparities: a primer for public health social workers. Soc Work Public Health. 2010;25(3–4):237–257. • Ruth BJ, Sisco S, Marshall JW. Public health social work. In: Franklin C, editor. Encyclopedia of Social Work. New York, NY: NASW Press and Oxford University Press; 2016. Available